1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disk drive suspension used in an information processing apparatus provided with a disk for use as a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) for recording and reading information on and from a rotating disk includes a carriage that is turnable around a pivot. The carriage is turned around the pivot by a positioning motor. The carriage is provided with an arm (actuator arm), suspension provided on the distal end portion of the arm, and slider mounted on the distal end portion of the suspension.
The suspension is provided with a base portion including a base plate, load beam, flexure superposed on the load beam, etc. The slider is mounted on a tongue that is formed on a part of the flexure. A protuberance that is called dimple is formed at the distal end portion of the load beam. The dimple projects toward the slider so that its distal end abuts the tongue. Thus, the slider is swingably supported by the dimple. When the disk rotates, the slider flies slightly above the surface of the disk, and an air bearing is formed between the disk and slider.
In a disk drive suspension, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,853 (Patent Document 1), a part of the flexure may be provided with a limiter for suppressing excessive movement of the slider. The limiter of Patent Document 1 is formed by bending a part of the tongue along its width.
The limiter of Patent Document 1 is cut and raised from one side of a center line that passes through the transverse center of the tongue, accordingly a large hole is left in the other side of the center line. Therefore, the distribution of the mass of the tongue is laterally asymmetrical with respect to the center line, so that the mass of the tongue may be unbalanced, and hence, influence the behavior of the slider.
Although the large hole is left in the suspension of Patent Document 1 after the limiter is bent, moreover, the hole is not used for anything. Since this hole is large and has a complicated shape, furthermore, it makes the tongue not only larger but also heavier. There is also a problem that the mass of the limiter becomes greater.